Thoughtful

An extremely thoughtful reader left this Amazon review for Shadows of Damascus:

"If you do not read this book you are missing a remarkable 'works from the heart.' This is a 'first-hand' account. Here we have the clear opportunity to follow the prior life based logical reasoning of a young woman who's entire life is blown to bits by a war and then counter-war in her middle-east country. How she is saved from those that would 'use' her and, her attempts to conform to a western civilization culture are the underlying themes of the book, but in addition there is another theme that everyone needs to read and absorb, which is the cultural difficulties which she AND her associates must go through. I will say no more other than I found it gripping, enlightening, sometimes difficult to understand the emotional stances of the characters, but in the final analysis I found this a very strong 5 star book. I only wished I understood more about the fundamentals of middle east thinking. You will find yourself caring very much about the destinies of the principal characters."

For a writer dipping her toes in the published world like myself, it's very rewarding to see that my intentions for writing this story came through the script.

Looking for Godot

What an arduous chore.

Sitting on a chair by the door, shoes on, jacket in hand, an old man waits for his ride. He stands up, checks his wallet, his keys, sits back down. Taking his glasses off, he wipes them with the special cloth from his pocket, looks at his watch.

An hour passes.

He sits in the waiting room. Freezing cold air hits his head. He looks up. An air duct right above him blows straight into his face. He moves to another chair, close to the glass door warmed by bright sun light. The flat screen TV mounted in a corner is running a cooking show. Grilled Salmon. He checks his watch, 8:30 a.m., too early for Salmon. His eyes roam over to the receptionist; lower half of her body hidden behind a desk.

She smiles.

He raises his eyebrows.

Soon, she mouths, points at the giant clock on the wall and lifts up her hand. She spreads manicured fingers apart. Five finger nails sparkle with stars and stripes. Really long nails.

He wonders how she can do anything with those nails, brush her teeth, hold a pen, eat a sandwich, go to the bathroom.

Tap, click. Tap, click. Tap, click. Her nails dance on the keyboard.

He scratches his head. At least she can do that.

Thirty-five minutes pass. The cooking show is followed by another cooking show, different host backing different pies.

On top of the examination table, his feet dangle. He pulls his dark socks as far up as they go. The flimsy gown barely covering his body scratches his back. The gown has been washed to death, original colors either blue or green. Are those flower prints? He takes off his glasses to have a better look. Hearts. Gray hearts. Do they think they're funny? He becomes angry. Why can't they have new gowns with red healthy hearts?

Forty minutes pass.

The doctor walks in. She briefly makes eye contact, flips open a folder and discusses her findings.

The old man listens patiently, tracing with one finger gray hearts, counting them. He imagines the one lazily beating in his chest as colorless as the ones under his finger. Warnings and instructions are repeated; prescriptions are handed over, more pills for his collection. No cure. The damage remains done.

He goes home, nothing new learned, nothing solved.  What a waste of time this waiting game he has to play. Will Godot ever come?


Lilas Taha is a novelist, winner of the 2017 International Book Awards  and is the author of Shadows of Damascus and Bitter Almonds.